rocking the speedo

Two words: Beef. Cake.

One link: Here.

vacation: writing and exercise

I did two things more than anything else on my vacation: playing my PSP and writing. I did a lot of writing, filling two notebooks with a story. It's crap and I know it, but at least it went quickly and passed the time. I've got another idea for a story that might actually be worth something, but it wasn't really flowing for me.

I got plenty of exercise on my vacation, swimming and a little kayaking. And I did some people watching and decided that between the morbidly obese and the ultra-fit people, I was somewhere on the fitter side - but still have some work to do.

So, I've ramped up my exercise and I'm trying to use the elliptical trainer once a day now. I'm also going to dust off the bowflex this evening and give that a go. No specific goals, but good intentions.

I got some "emerging from the ocean" pictures that I'll try to get posted later today.

vacation: the bad

And now for the bad. And I have a surprising amount of bad from this vacation.

1. My grandmother passed away. I mean, how much worse could can you get?

2. The drive was 10 hours each way. Which is pretty horrific all by itself. Add in my room-mate - who has been going to the same place on vacation for about a thousand years - still not being sure of the route to take. This is with years of experience, a map, and a freaking GPS. Which he argued with for the first 2 hours of the trip back before giving up and letting her guide us. He's going to be pissed that I wrote this in the blog, but dangit, pick a route and stick to it. He knows how completely insane that indecision makes me because I've told him how insane that indecision makes me.

3. My room-mate and siblings argued with every single conversation they had. Every single one. I counted and it was all of them. Ugh.

4. I got bitch slapped and owned by the waves. I got in my time/distance, but it was rough. I looked good in my "Daniel Craig as James Bond" Speedos, but I was the ocean's bitch.

5. My room-mate drove the Sea-Doo like an old man. Every time we got up to speed, he'd drop the throttle and we'd slam to a stop. I mean, seriously.

6. I had computer problems to fix. My uncle's were easy to address on windows 7, but I had some vista issues on another machine that I could not surmount. Very frustrating.

7. Parking the Sea-Doo involved me getting into the canal and lifting on the machine while my room-mate pulled it onto the mini-dock. I did not smell very fresh afterwards and was quite sore.

8. We ate out at the same places we ate out at last year. And the wait on one of those trips? 2 hours. The food? Not worth a 2 hour wait.

8. We had plans to go places and do things, but ended up spending much of the time sitting in the sun. I was bored. A lot. And this was a bigger deal than it seems. I was just kinda of hoping for an adventure or two and it was just more of the same.

On the bright side, I wasn't at work. But, sheesh. I know I'm really poor at relaxing, but the lack of fun on this trip was staggering. There's got to be something more.

And just writing this has put me in bad mood. I think I need to go back and read about the fun parts of my trip again.

vacation: the good

As I've done before, I kept notes on my vacation so I could update my blog when I get back to a computer. It usually ends up being the written equivalent of vacation slide show, and nobody wants that. So, instead, a few bullet points on the good of my vacation and then another post later on the bad. Also, I heard a new song: Sara Bareilles - King Of Anything Enjoy.

1. I went streaking on the beach at 3:30 AM. I mean, really, when else am I going to do it? And if you haven't, I recommend it.

2. I swam in the ocean. A lot. At least a lot based on the amount of time I was actually at the beach. I did about 5 1/2 miles total. Would have done more, but the ocean was really rough.

3. The flight attendants and the passengers on the planes thought my origami was great.

4. My cousins were fun to visit with, even though the trip (grandma's funeral) was rough.

5. I got to ride a SeaDoo and got tossed off. It was fun.

6. I got to try out a kayak. Pretty fun, but it wore me out.

7. The crab cake sandwiches were good.

8. The beach house we stayed at the second week had an outdoor shower. Nothing better than an outdoor shower to clear off the suntan lotion, sweat, sand, and just plain tired.

9. I was off-line nearly the whole time.

10. No sunburn, only a nice light tan. Thank you, SPF 30.

grandma

I left for a vacation to myrtle beach at 8:00 on a Friday morning a couple weeks ago and my room-mate and I drove about 10 hours down there. We had checked into a hotel for the night and met up with his brother for dinner. That night, I got the call from my dad that my grandmother - his mom - had passed away. She'd been ill for a while and non-responsive - and not eating or drinking anything for several days - so it wasn't a surprise, but sudden all the same.

Dad said he was meeting with the funeral director the next day and would have more information on the arrangements then.

The next day I helped my room-mate and his family check into the condo for the week and I then waited for the call with the news about the plans. Mom called me on my cell and gave me the details and I called a bereavement travel service that my room-mate's company offers and made some travel plans to fly there for the service - since the visitation would be Tuesday and service on Wednesday - all in Illinois. I made a flight for Monday morning with a return trip to MB on Thursday.

I was at the MB airport bright and early, got checked in, and flew to Atlanta. There was a 2 hour layover, then on to Bloomington, IL. My folks picked me up and dropped me off to stay with my cousin. On Tuesday we met up at the church for the visitation. Grandma looked good - like I remembered her - but that didn't make seeing her there any easier. My parents, my dad's sister and one of his brothers and their spouses were up at the front to greet people and talk to them. The rest of the family - grand and great-grand children - sat in the pews and mostly kept ourselves. We were there for about 4 hours and there was a big turnout - grandma had lived in the town her whole life and had a lot of friends.

The next morning - Wednesday - we headed back to the church for the service. The minister didn't know grandma, but my uncle had met with him and shared some good stories. Instead of using those, the minister instead talked mostly about himself, which puzzled and annoyed most of us. We then went to the graveside and told my brother-in-law that they should have at least broken the speed limit for grandma in the procession - she was known for having an unapologetic lead foot. The service at the graveside was quick and on the way back to the church for lunch... I broke down. I'd had some bad moments, but riding with mom and dad as we left the cemetery I started weeping. I guess it makes sense it would hit me then, but even having made what I thought was peace with her loss, the finality overwhelmed me and it was a bit before I could get control of myself again. After the lunch at the church, my sister and brother-in-law headed back to Ohio and I got dropped off at my cousin's house. I had dinner that night with my uncle's family and helped with some computer issues.

And then we talked about my uncle that didn't show up at his mother's visitation, funeral, graveside, or luncheon. There's some bad blood there between his siblings, but I think we all thought that he would at least show up. My aunt sent him a text message when grandma passed - which sounds a little cold, but he doesn't answer his phone and leaves his voicemail full.

So, he missed the whole thing - a chance to say goodbye and maybe mend some fences. Now, I can't imagine my dad and his other two siblings forgiving this. Really sad.

My parents dropped me back off at the airport on Thursday morning and I did my trip in reverse, getting back to MB at 3:30. I wowed the passangers and the flight crew with my folding on the trips and now it was time to get back to my beach vacation.

A leak, a party, things created, and some guilt

I went to give blood today in the early afternoon since I was off work. It was busy, apparently a lot of people had the same idea. The actual donation was fine, but while I was eating my cookies and having some orange drink in the canteen area, the guy next to me suddenly got up - clutching at his arm. He said something about having a problem and headed by into the donation area - leaving a trail of blood. I told a couple of staff people about it and they gloved up and got the area cleaned up. I headed on my way, thinking that it was the first time I'd seen someone have trouble like that. He was a little older, must not have "sealed" up quickly enough.

I went to a party on Saturday evening. A couple of friends were hosting and I had a nice time - which surprised me a bit since I'm not really an outgoing party person. But, I had some paper with me and a little origami magic will do wonders. I made a little person and a horse for a little girl that was there - she was amazed and managed to keep the figure intact longer than most 2 year-olds would have been able to do. I stayed pretty late, but started to get eaten alive by the bugs. No calimine or hydrocortizon to be found at home, but a little rubbing alcohol got rid of the itch.

I've been busy crafting things this weekend. Found a design for a brocade - a sort of spherical flower that takes 6 pieces of paper to build and can make some nice earrings. Provided the paper is small enough. 1 inch squares seemed to do the trick and while it wasn't hard work, it was very detail oriented. I made two sets - and some soap - as gifts to someone who "has everything".

A couple weeks ago I did something that has been nagging at me. It was after work and I had just left the building heading for the pool since I didn't get to swim at lunchtime. I had my phone out, getting ready to make a call and tell a friend that plans had changed. Just before I started to dial, I saw a guy exit the building in front of me, head toward the street, then do a sudden 180 and head back. He saw I had my phone out asked if he could borrow it. I told him "sorry" and that I "had to make this call". I kept walking and dialed - and made my call. It was only a few minutes later that I realized what was going on. The guy came out of the building expecting a ride to be waiting for him and wanted to use my phone to call and make sure he wasn't stranded. Or so it seemed, based on the moments I'd seen his behavior.

Was my call critical? No, it could have waited. Was I worried he might steal my phone and run off? Not likely, when motivated I can move pretty fast and I know the campus very well. Would he have wasted my minutes? No, I've got a pile and have never come close to using them all in a month. Do I have a good reason for not helping?

Not really. Pretty much just selfish. Which I really try not to do. I guess I was just tired of things standing in the way of what I was doing. I had spent all day just trying to move forward and I saw this as not a chance to help someone, but an impediment to the rest of my day.

He wasn't there by the time I went back that way - I guess his ride showed up.

So, it's been bothering me a bit. I feel like I made a bad decision. Not evil, but just not what I should have done.

Since then, I've been trying to be a little nicer to people where I can. Doesn't really make up for it, but I guess it's all I can do.

In other news... looking forward to a short work week. And I think it's time for me to get off this computer and go enjoy the sunshine a bit.